till his master threatened him
with a good beating, that Kaiber left off chattering to himself, while
his mouth moved with the effect of the extreme cold:--

"Oh, wherefore did he eat the muscles?
Now the _Boyl-yas_ storms and thunder make;
Oh, wherefore would he eat the muscles?"

Among the superstitions of Australia, that feeling of awe which revolts
from mentioning even the name of a deceased person is very remarkable;
and the custom of silence upon this subject is so strictly enforced,
that it renders inquiry respecting the family or ancestors of a native
extremely difficult.[70] The only circumstance enabling the inquirer to
overcome this hindrance is the fact, that, the longer a person has been
dead, the less unwilling do they appear to name him. Thus did Captain
Grey obtain some curious information respecting their pedigrees and
family customs; for he began with endeavouring to discover only the
oldest names on record, and then, as opportunity served, he would
contrive to fill up the blanks, sometimes, when they were assembled
round their fires at night, encouraging little disputes among them
concerning their forefathers, by means of which he was able to gain
much of the information he wanted.

[70] It is even said, that persons bearing the same name with
the deceased take other names, in order to avoid the necessity of
pronouncing it at all. _See_ COLLINS' _Acc. of Col. of N. S. Wales_,
p. 392.

One very singular notion prevailing among the native population of
Australia, and proving that the belief in a spiritual world and in a
future state, is not quite extinct even among them, is the idea which
they entertain of white people being the souls of departed blacks. This
supposition may serve to explain the reason of the disagreeable process
complained of by Sturt, who says, that every new tribe examined them,
pulling them about, measuring the hands and feet of the strangers with
their own, counting their fingers, feeling their faces, and besmearing
them all over with dirt and grease. A more powerful feeling than
curiosity even may have prompted this conduct, and they may have
sought, impelled by superstition, to recognise in the foreigners
their own kindred. But however that may have been, most travellers in
Australia mention the peculiar idea alluded to. Captain Grey was once
vehemently attacked by the caresses of an old, ugly, and dirty black
woman, who recognised him as her son's gho